Attorney General

Knives: Crime

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Attorney General, how many people illegally carrying knives have been charged for manslaughter in the last five years.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Attorney General, how many offenders involved in violent knife crime have engaged in a charge bargain to lessen their sentence in each of the last three years.

Alex Chalk: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of people illegally carrying knives who have been charged with the offence or offences of manslaughter. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. There is no system of plea bargaining in courts in England and Wales. It may be appropriate for a plea to be accepted to alternative charges in some cases. However, the CPS do not capture any data on cases where this occurs centrally; therefore, the information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. The CPS uses the Code for Crown Prosecutors to decide the charge and the Attorney General’s guidelines on acceptance of pleas, in deciding whether to accept a guilty plea to a lesser charge. In both its Legal Guidance on Offensive Weapons and the Knife Crime Practical Guidance, the CPS state that the weapon offence should be charged in addition to the substantive offence.

Wales Office

National Insurance Contributions: Newport West

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the impact of the National Insurance contribution rise on (a) households and (b) employers in Newport West constituency.

Simon Hart: I have regular discussions with my Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, including National Insurance contributions (NICs). The Government is committed to responsible management of the public finances. That is why the Government has taken the tough but responsible decision to increase taxes, introducing a UK-wide 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy based on NICs, in order to fund a significant increase in permanent spending on the NHS and social care. There is a significant Union dividend for Wales within this levy, meaning that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will benefit by around 15% more than is generated from their residents, equivalent to around £300 million every year on average. Regarding the impact on households; NICs is progressive, the Primary Threshold means that the lowest earners do not pay any NICs. The highest earning 15% will pay over half the revenues raised by the Levy and 6.1 million people earning less than the Primary Threshold (equivalent to £9,880 a year in 2022-23) will not pay the Levy. Regarding the impact on businesses; while it is fair that businesses contribute, as they benefit from having a healthy workforce, big businesses will pay the most. 70% of the money raised from business will come from the biggest 1% of employers (those with at least 250 employees). Just under 40% of all employers with employer NICs/Levy liabilities (630,000 employers) are expected not to pay the Levy due to the Employment Allowance. The next 42% of businesses (675,000 employers) will face an average increase of £475 per year, less than 1% of their overall wage bill.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Coronavirus

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of civil servants working in his Department's offices at Sanctuary Buildings have returned to work in-person.

Michelle Donelan: Following the easing of Plan B restrictions, all Department for Education offices have fully re-opened.The department has now fully returned to normal ways of working, making use of modern flexible technology. We have adopted hybrid working as a permanent model, with staff expected to work from Sanctuary Buildings (and all other Department for Education sites), or other face to face work settings for between 40 – 60% of their week. This equates on average to two to three days each week for full time staff.There will be a mix of working patterns across the department depending on the job role and business need which means attendance at the office or other face to face work setting may be different each week.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Coronavirus

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of benefit claims made when controls were suspended during the covid-19 outbreak have subsequently been reviewed by her Department; and in how many cases was (a) an overpayment identified (b) recovery action initiated.

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of benefit claims made when controls were suspended during the covid-19 outbreak have been reviewed by the Department; and where the Department found an inaccuracy, in how many cases the Department identified (a) fraud and (b) claimant error as the source of the inaccuracy.

David Rutley: The Department has taken huge steps to reduce and minimise fraud and error, including during the last 20 months, at a time where the Department processed an additional 3 million new Universal Credit claims. We have revisited over 900,000 high risk claims paid during the early period of Covid-19 with incorrectness being found in just over 11% of the claims reviewed. Internal records do not enable us to split the overpayments we found between fraud and claimant error. Any overpayments identified will have been referred to DWP’s Debt Management Team for recovery action. The DWP’s Debt Management IT systems does not allows us to track these particular cases.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Food: Production

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to help increase the self-sufficiency of communities through community growing projects.

Victoria Prentis: Strong domestic food production supports our food security. The UK enjoys considerable self-sufficiency in food, with nearly 100 percent sufficiency in poultry, carrots and swedes. People growing food using allotments and in community growing projects connects people with the land, food and each other. Further, growing vegetables in school gardens teaches children about nutrition, science and the environment – and we are supportive of such projects.

Cabinet Office

10 Downing Street

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was to the public purse of the independent legal advice provided to the investigation into alleged gatherings on government premises during covid-19 restrictions as of 31 January 2021.

Michael Ellis: Whilst noting the expert support as referenced in the Second Permanent Secretary's update of 31 January, it would not be appropriate to comment on the scope of legal advice that may or may not have been sought or received.